MHI: A CONFESSIONAL: WHY I WILL NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE AND SPEND ALL MY TIME WRITING HORROR by Terrie Leigh Relf
Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health
The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.
A CONFESSIONAL: WHY I WILL NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE AND SPEND ALL MY TIME WRITING HORROR
Terrie Leigh Relf
It’s not that I’m agoraphobic,
but I don’t go out much anymore.
My team of doctors—a few psychiatrists—
claim the meds will help,
but I still can’t walk out the door.
It’s not that I’m allodoxaphobic,
since I do care what people think.
The news crews in their jeeps
and coptors search for stories,
so I close my eyes, refuse to blink.
It’s not that I’m atephobic,
but have you gone outside, seen the ruin?
The virologists turned world leaders
say it’ll take centuries to rebuild,
but in the meantime, what just blew in?!
What I am is blenno and bufonophobic
as it’s raining frogs and giant toads,
their slimy tongues and bulbous bodies,
slither toward me through the door…
and you KNOW what this bodes!